Page 202 of Things Left Unsaid

“No. At least, I didn’t stick around long enough to see him do that. You think that’s why she went missing?”

He curls upward, legs bending at the knee so he can rest his arms on them. “I’ve thought he had something to do with it for a while.”

“So did Lydia Armstrong.”

His mouth tightens. “You know about the letters?”

“I didn’t know I’d received one until I heard you talking with Cody today, but everyone knows she blamed the Korhonens.”

“How much did you overhear?”

“Do I look like Arwen on Jas?”

My lips curve when his ears burn red. “Maybe. You weren’t dressed for the part.”

“I didn’t know you were into cosplay, or do I mean roleplay?”

“You don’t know what I like.” Before I can be offended, his gaze fixes on mine. “Yet.”

And with that one word, it’s like all the tension in me evaporates. It’s a miracle that I don’t flop back into the water.

There’ll be a next time.

Thank God.

Yet.

“They were in a relationship?”

I swear our conversational shifts give me whiplash. “Yeah. They were having sex when I caught them. Your father’s a dog.”

“They saw?”

“No. I ran off.”

“It was…”

“It wasn’t rape,” is my flat retort.

“Do you think he had something to do with Marcy’s disappearance?”

“I used to think the triplets were his.”

“Excuse me?!”

I lift my legs and rest them against my chest. Looping my arms around my shins, I hold myself as tightly as I can before I whisper, “But then they turned into miniature Daddies. There was a point where I knew Mom found it hard to look at them after he died—they were so alike. Little mirror images.”

A hand settles on my back. “They were having an affair?”

“I have the unfortunate habit of seeing things I’m not supposed to.”

His whole body stiffens. “That time, it wasn’t consensual?”

I can’t utter a word. So I tip my head to the side.

“How old were you?”

“Too young to see that.”

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